DALLAS—A civil lawsuit filed by Fortenberry Firm PLLC in Dallas County, Texas, asserts claims of sex trafficking on behalf of a 16-year-old girl from Baytown, Texas, who was groomed by a 32-year-old male, lured to Dallas, drugged, and prostituted at the Hawthorne Extended Stay by Wyndham Dallas. Hawthorne Suites is a division of Wyndham hotels.
The suit details that once in Dallas, the victim was taken to the man’s loft apartment and told they were going to make money together but did not specify how. Shortly thereafter, he took her to the hotel and told her she would be prostituting for him. After forcing her to take pictures of herself in lingerie and posting them to online prostitution advertisements, he supplied her with condoms, food, and illicit narcotics and forced her to perform sexual acts with multiple men per day.
According to the suit, after four weeks of being held against her will, the Dallas Police Department learned of an online advertisement for sex that appeared to match the description of the missing teen. Dallas Police used an undercover police officer to set up a date with her which led to her rescue and arrest of the pimp. After her rescue, the victim told officers that the pimp said the hotel staff and security guards were watching the girls, and if the girls left the room, the hotel staff and security guards would notify him.
The complaint details that reviews online warned of sex trafficking at the Hawthorne Extended Stay by Wyndham Dallas, with one review stating, “Check-in was interesting. In front of me was a gentleman, who may have literally been a pimp. Not even joking. Fairly well dressed but arguing with the guy at check-in and a wad of bills in hand. Paid for multiple days (or maybe multiple rooms) in cash, paid the security deposit in case because his many credit cards were declined.” Other reviews stated obvious prostitution was occurring, and complaints to the manager produced no action from the hotel staff.
The pimp paid for the room in cash daily using his Wyndham hotel rewards account.
Trial Attorney Zeke Fortenberry
The victim is represented by trial attorney Zeke Fortenberry. Fortenberry served for several years as an Assistant District Attorney specializing in the prosecution of sexual crimes before founding the Fortenberry Firm PLLC—a civil litigation boutique focused on representing victims.
“Hotel owners and operators have a unique vantage point to recognize the signs and indicators of sex trafficking, yet policies alone will never protect victims and prevent the crime,” Fortenberry said. “There must be actual adoption, implementation, enforcement, and training of employees on anti-sex trafficking policies in order for them to be effective. It is clear that this hotel has long ignored red flags of sex trafficking.”
A 2014 study found that 92 percent of calls received by the National Human Trafficking Hotline involved reports of sex trafficking taking place at hotels. Fortenberry says, “This is a $99 billion a year industry. In order to combat the sex trafficking epidemic, we must look beyond the pimps and sex buyers and hold accountable the other individuals and entities who facilitate and benefit from sex trafficking.
“Now that the pimp is in prison, this lawsuit is about the corporate entities who knowingly benefited from the trafficking. In Texas, we have some of the strongest civil laws to hold trafficking defendants accountable, and we plan to do just that.”
The lawsuit was originally filed in Dallas County but is being transferred to the statewide multidistrict litigation group of cases in Harris County focusing exclusively on trafficking.
